


[Un]Expecting

by Ricky B (littletoes101)



Category: Death Note
Genre: Childbirth, M/M, Mpreg, cursing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-11
Updated: 2011-04-21
Packaged: 2017-10-17 22:26:19
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 7,813
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/181932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/littletoes101/pseuds/Ricky%20B
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Tell the truth, lie, run away, die? No, no dying. Run away? Where the hell would he go? Tell the truth? No telling what Matt would do if that happened. Lie? That seemed to be the best option."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Failed?

Chapter one: Failed?

Was it possible to fail a pregnancy test while passing it?

That was what went through the mind of Mihael Keehl as he worriedly paced the floor of the bathroom, his eyes wandering ever so often to the still processing tests. Suddenly he stopped, gripping his stomach as he groaned, “Shit, not again…” with those words, Mello leaned over the sink and vomited up anything he’d eaten within the last few hours.

Shivering slightly, Mello reached over and grabbed a towel, wiping his mouth off. After that was over, Mello looked down at the now-finished tests.  
Positive, positive, positive, positive.

“Damnit,” Mello cursed again, shoving them into the trash. He felt queasy again, but he stumbled out into the living room and collapsed on the couch. His breathing was shaky, labored and heavy. They were all positive…

If it was possible to fail a pregnancy test while passing it at the same time, Mello had done it.

Mello shifted slightly as he heard the door open, and then Matt’s worried voice called;

“Hey Mel, are you still feeling sick?” all of the color drained out of Mello’s face as he heard Matt, and he struggled to sit up.

 _Shit,_ he thought. _How the hell am I going to explain this?_ As he was thinking, he replied;

“Uh, I’m doing fine now!” quickly, he went over the options in his mind.

Tell the truth, lie, run away, die? No, no dying. Run away? Where the hell would he go? Tell the truth? No telling what Matt would do if that happened. Lie? That seemed to be the best option.

Suddenly, Mello was shocked back into real life by a hand touching his shoulder. “You sure you’re okay?” Mello whipped his head around to view Matt, who was standing with a worried look in his eyes.

“I’m fine,” Mello replied with a sigh.

“What did the doctor say?” Matt settled beside Mello on the couch, gripping his hand.

 _Aw man…_ Now what was he going to say? As much as he hated lying to Matt, there was no other way.

“Just a stomach virus,” Mello replied. “It should be gone by next week.” _If only…_

“Alright.” Matt pulled Mello close, letting his lips brush across the blonde’s cheek. “I was worried about you.”

Mello felt an unusual pang of sadness rush through him. Now he felt even worse about lying to Matt about his pregnancy…but now there was no going back.

“Don’t worry about me,” Mello gave a small smile to convince Matt that all was well. “I’m fine.”

Matt gave a small sigh and grinned. “If you insist.” Heaving himself off the couch, he started off towards the hallway, then turned to look at Mello. “Just tell me if you need anything.”

Mello nodded. “Okay.”

“No, really, if you start to feel sick again, just call me okay?” Matt’s voice was soft, yet it still held traces of worry.

Biting his lip, Mello nodded again. “I’ll call you.” As soon as Matt was gone, Mello curled up on the couch and did something he’d never thought he’d do.

He started to sob.


	2. Rough Waters Ahead

Chapter two: Rough Waters Ahead

Later on that week, Mello decided to do a little more research on his…ahem…“condition”. If there was one thing Mello didn’t know about, it was pregnancy.

On his laptop, Mello tentatively typed in _male pregnancy_ into Google search, then pressed enter and surfed the results.

“Fucking Google,” Mello sighed unhappily. “Never giving you what you want.” After a while of surfing, he finally came to a link that looked about right. It was a doctor’s website, he noticed—that must be somewhat credible.

As the link came up, his eyes widened. Mello was expecting something small, like a paragraph or something; instead, there was a whole _webpage_ on it. As he continued to scour the site, he found information on diseases he’d never even knew about, how phobias develop, how to kill someone using a pencil, and how to re-train your dog in a week.

“Who is this guy,” Mello muttered, scrolling down to the bottom of the webpage to the copyright. Maybe the name was here…

“A chick?” Surprise, surprise. The name at the bottom read “ **Dr. Elizabeth Bradley. 208 Cherry Lane. Phone (803) 315-3535 or e-mail gottalovepits@gmail.com to schedule an appointment. © 2011.** ”

Again, as he stared at the numbers, Mello reviewed his options. He could go see this doctor, who (apparently) knew the answer to everything about his condition, or he could go to a dipstick doctor who knew about as much about his condition as a dog knew about a shark…or vice versa. Obviously recognizing the better choice, Mello sighed and picked up the phone.

“Here goes nothing.”

MEANWHILE, at 208 Cherry Lane…

Loud music blared out of the headphones as a teenage girl jazzed around the room, completely dead to the world. Annoyed, her partner attempted to catch her attention.

“Liz!” Jonathan, the partner, yelled. “Earth to Liz! Hello?! LIZ!”

Peeling one earbud out of her ear, Liz blinked one eye. “Ne?”

“You have a new appointment.” Adjusting his glasses quite professionally, Jay looked down at the clipboard in his hands. “Scheduled for 3:30.” Looking up, he adjusted his glasses again and sighed. “I’m going to finish my paperwork now.” As Jay walked away, he muttered something like “gonna blow her ears out,” but Liz wasn’t listening. No, she was too busy coddling her Sumatran tiger named Oliver.

“Well now,” she purred. “Looks like we’ve got a new patient.”

Later that day, around three thirty...

Mello looked curiously at the gold name plate on the desk in front of him, and then at Jay who was sitting at the desk, doing paperwork. Before he could say anything, the cloudy gray eyes raced up to meet his sky blue ones.

“You must be Mello. She’s in the back; room 1.” Feeling unusually submissive under the hostile eyes hidden by glasses, Mello moved quickly past Jay, who acted as though the blonde didn’t exist.

After finding room 1, Mello tentatively peeked inside. The first thing he noticed was that this doctor was around 12 or 13. The second thing he noticed was that there was a tiger sitting beside her, head in her lap, eyes closed in content. Of course that sight caused him to hesitate again; who wants to just calmly walk into a room with a 600 pound tiger?

Finally mustering all of his courage, Mello went in. The cat acted like it wasn’t aware of his presence, which was fine for him. The girl, however, looked up at him, eyes sparkling.

“Hello there,” she grinned with a catlike gleam in her eye. Catlike. Heh. There were lots of things “catlike” about this whole getup—the tiger, pictures of cats on the walls, and of course the infamous cat-in-front-of-the-police-dogs-poster with the words “Fuck the police” on it. Maybe this girl wouldn’t be so bad after all…

Getting up, Liz trotted across the floor of the room to greet Mello more formally, giving the tiger a firm “stay” before doing so.

“So,” she purred. “Mihael Keehl, A.K.A Mello. Born December 13, 1990 in London, England, later moved to a small town in Russia. Parents died when you were six, and you moved to Wammy’s House. Previously owned a wolf dog named Sirius-Orion and a cheetah named Roscoe. The first died at the age of 10, the second died two weeks ago at the age of 11. You left Wammy’s House at 15 and joined the Mafia not long after to search for the Death Note. You got it, then lost it when you exploded. You moved in with your best friend, which has landed you in your current situation.” Liz took a deep staggering breath and looked at Mello. “Am I right or am I _right_?”

During her speech, Mello had been standing with his eyes wide open. “How…how did you—”

“Top secret,” Liz grinned, putting a finger over her lips. “I know a lot about my patients.”

After getting over the initial shock, Mello looked at her skeptically. “Top secret?”

Liz nodded. “Top secret.” She repeated. “Code Gold.”

“Code what?”

“Code Gold. It means don’t tell, and if you do tell someone you have to shoot them.” Liz grinned wide. “Anyway, enough with the chatter. Let’s get right down to business.” Sitting down in a spinning chair, Liz spun around while speaking. “So Mello, what brings you here today?” Knowing that he’d have to answer this question eventually, Mello sighed heavily before answering.

“Well…I’m kind of…pregnant,” he huffed. “And I saw your website, so I…yeah. I ended up here.”

Liz nodded thoughtfully. “This is becoming a common phenomenon these days.” She paused to give a little laugh before continuing. “Soon, it probably won’t be a phenomenon anymore.”

Mello frowned and crossed his arms. “Yeah, and animal marriage will be legalized in our lifetime; tell me something I don’t know.” Despite his hostile-ish attitude, Mello was actually beginning to enjoy this girl’s sense of humor.

Grinning, Liz leaned back in her chair. “So ask me anything I’ll probably be able to answer it.”

The first question  was a somewhat obvious one. “How is it possible?”

“I figured you’d ask that,” Liz sighed, taking a large book from a shelf and flipping to a bookmarked page. “Ah, here we are. Male pregnancy. This rare phenomenon occurs when the genes and/or cells controlling the growth of the sexual reproduction organs mutate, causing parts of both sex organs to grow. It is a form of hermaphradotia that can come in 3 forms; mild, where one or two of the other sex’s organs grow; moderate, where there are enough organs to create and nourish a baby, and heavy, where the person is a full hermaphrodite. Male pregnancy usually only occurs, however, in moderate form; rarely in mild and never recorded in heavy. Due to the eggs in the male body being stronger, they can go to the uterus in the same way a female’s does, but unlike a female’s, they return to the ovaries if fertilization does not occur, therefore making it so that the male does not have a menstrual cycle like females do. Males also only release eggs when sexually excited—sometimes, depending on the level of sexual activity, two eggs may be released. Male pregnancies go along the same way female’s do, and often with the same signs or symptoms such as weight gain, fatigue, morning sickness, cravings, headaches, and mood swings.” Finally finishing, Liz took another large breath and grinned at him. “You catch all that?”

Wide-eyed and a bit speechless yet again, Mello nodded. “A lot to take in…”

“Yeah, I know.” Liz closed her eyes professionally and nodded. “But you get used to it.”

Again, Mello looked at her a bit skeptically. “How do you know so much?”

Liz smiled, shutting the book. “Easy, I study and learn from my own experiences.” She placed it back on the shelf and reclined, looking at Mello, dark brown eyes never focusing on one area for a long time.

Now he was even more puzzled than before. “You mean…you’ve seen this happen before?”

“Yep,” Liz replied, petting the tiger who now sat beside her. “Where I come from, I’ve seen it happen a lot. I’ve even seen some other cases too around here.”

Mello blinked. “Really?”

“Uh-huh,” Liz nodded. “It’s just been kept a secret.”

“Okay…” Mello murmured, half-closing his eyes in thought.

Moving to sit in the chair next to him, Liz put her chin in her palms and looked at Mello. “So when are you going to tell him?”

“Tell who what?” Mello asked, apparently brain-dead for a second.

“Tell Matt you’re pregnant, duh,” Liz replied, sticking out her tongue and making a “durr retarded” face.

“I…I can’t,” Mello murmured, looking down sadly. “I don’t know what he’ll do and…” he paused for a second. “I couldn’t bear it if he left me.”

Liz nodded. “I see. I could tell him if you want—“

“No!” Mello said quickly, cutting her off. “No,” he repeated, a bit more softly this time. “It’s alright.” He wondered in the back of his mind how in the hell she knew Matt to begin with, but he shook the though away. This girl knew a whole lot about the people in his life somehow.

“Anyway,” Liz drawled purposely, pulling the tiger closer to her and stroking him. “You’ll need to see me once every month. Extra visits are optional. If I’m not here, I’m at my vet clinic, and if I’m not there, I’m either training someone’s dog or rescuing a hapless animal. Take my business card,” she told him, taking a colorful card from her pocket and handing it to Mello. “If you have no other concerns, you’re free to go.”

Nodding, Mello stood up and turned to leave, but he heard Liz’s voice behind him,

“Hey! Fortune cookie.” As she tossed him a cookie, Mello whirled around and caught it. “Oh, and don’t be afraid of Oliver.”

“Who?” Mello asked, unwrapping the cookie.

“Oliver. The tiger,” Liz motioned to Oliver, who rubbed against her leg. “He’s a real sweetheart.”

“Oh,” Mello sighed, cracking open the cookie and tossing the halves to the cat, who surprisingly ate them. The fortune read; “Be careful, rough waters ahead.” Muttering, Mello placed it in his pocket and walked off to contemplate what had just happened.


	3. Meanwhile, in hiding...

Chapter three: Meanwhile, in hiding…

As the months dragged on and Mello’s pregnancy progressed, things began to get worse for him. No matter what, he was sick every day, but he could only throw up when Matt was away or sleeping. To add another problem to his already large list of problems, he had random stupid cravings at random times in the day, and asking Matt to go get some of those items would, or might, betray his secret, so often times he had to go to the store to get them, which was kind of annoying when most of the time he was still sick to his stomach. To top it all off, a new sign was beginning to rear its ugly head.

“Hey, Mel,” Matt said cautiously one day, “No offense or anything but…have you gained weight?”

Mello, who was currently in the process of consuming a Ghirardelli caramel-filled chocolate, looked up at Matt with a puzzled expression. “Huh?”

Matt motioned to Mello’s midsection, and Mello looked down, noticing a soft rounding to his stomach. Blushing and frowning, Mello crossed his arms over his stomach.

“No! Shut up Matt,” Mello snapped, going back to eating his chocolate.

Matt blinked and looked down, a little hurt from Mello’s snapping. Sure, Mello got mad at him from time to time but…he never snapped at Matt like that.

“Is something wrong Mel?” Matt asked softly. “You’ve…changed a lot in the last month and a half.”

“Nothing’s wrong,” the blonde muttered, licking at the caramel seeping out of the chocolate. “You shouldn’t ask questions like that and expect not to get snapped at.”

Matt just sighed and looked down, contemplating Mello’s response. “I guess you’re right.” Even so, he didn’t believe all was right with his friend—and lover. He couldn’t think of any reasons why Mello would be hiding something from him; and he didn’t have the slightest clue as to what that “something” might be. And so, he decided, if Mello was hiding something from him, he was going to figure it out, one way or another. Little did he know, Matt would find out soon enough what was wrong with Mello; and from “one way or another,” it would probably be the “another” way.

 

Later that same day, when Matt was away, Mello was curled up in front of the toiler, groaning softly. Two and a half months. He’d been having to do this for two and a half months. Something had been living inside of him for two and a half months. He’d been lying to Matt for two and a half months—and he still had six and a half to ho. This was by far the biggies lie he’d ever told, and the biggest secret he’d ever kept. It was almost scary to think about it that way, but Mello knew in his heart that it was the only thing that could be done in this situation.

Or, he wondered in the back of his mind, was it?


	4. A New Arrival and More Options

Chapter four: A New Arrival and More Options

Again Mello found himself in Liz’s office, waiting on her to arrive. Yes, again. This was the second time he’d been stuck waiting for her, with only Jay for company—if you could call him company. He was silent, literally, the whole time Liz was gone. He made no sound and barely any movement, save for him writing and sometimes typing something onto the open laptop next to him. Even though he was silent and never made eye contact with Mello, the negative energy that radiated off of him was unnerving.

Finally, Liz burst through the door, panting and soaking wet, holding an umbrella in one hand and groceries in the other; said hand was also wrapped around her chest, as if holding something. The umbrella had obviously not done its job well, and Liz was shivering, yet grinning like she’d won the lottery.

“Wow, you look horrible,” Mello commented. “What happened?”

“You make me feel good,” Liz snorted, dropping the useless umbrella and groceries, but keeping her hand clutched across her chest. “I got caught in the rain and, while hurrying home, I found this little guy in a box all alone and scared.” Gently, Liz unzipped her jacket and pulled out the shivering bundle inside. “I tried to keep him warm.”

As she placed the thing on the ground, Mello could see that it was a puppy—a pit bull puppy. He was a beautiful shade of golden, with white on his chest, paws, and belly. He had big, floppy ears, which looked like someone had taken scissors to—they were all cut up at the ends. His tail was docked short, and the puppy was shivering nervously.

Mello tilted his head curiously at the puppy. In the corner of his eye, Mello noticed Oliver, who had been lying at Jay’s feet, stir. As the monster cat got up, Mello wondered if he should grab the dog, but it was too late. Oliver had made his way over to the puppy. Mello wondered if Liz was going to pull the cat away, but she made no move to restrain Oliver. Just as he was wondering when the cat was going to eat his snack, Oliver leaned over…

And began to clean the puppy.

Obviously puzzled, Mello looked over at Liz, who was smiling. “What is he—”

“I trained him to do that,” Liz explained. “No harm done.”

“Uh huh…so are you going to keep the dog?” Mello asked, watching as the puppy waddled over to his leg. It sat at Mello’s leg and whimpered, so Mello leaned over and heaved the puppy onto his lap.

“Well I was gonna try to find a home for him but if I couldn’t…”

“No more animals, please,” Mello heard Jay sigh from his desk. “We already have Oliver, Rocky, Leafe, Enapay, and Princess.”

“Who are they?” Mello murmured in Liz’s direction.

“Rocky is Jay’s lion, Leafe and Enapay are former fighting pit bulls, and Princess is Jay’s American Bully.” Liz explained. “Enapay has 3 legs and Leafe is blind in one eye. Princess is just fat; Rocky is declawed sadly. His former owners did that to him.”

“And they don’t try to kill each other on a daily basis?” Mello asked curiously.

“No. In fact, they all pretty much love each other,” Liz explained. Sitting in the chair beside Mello, she frowned. “Now…what to name this little boy…” Liz leaned over and stroked the puppy’s forehead, being careful of his ears. “I know! Murdoch.”

Mello too found himself stroking the newly-named Murdoch. His eyes got wide and he pulled his hand back, letting out a soft sigh. He wouldn’t let himself get attached to this puppy like he did with his other pets. He’d found that all human-animal relationships eventually ended in heartbreak, no matter what. Besides, Matt probably didn’t want a dog—if he wanted one, he could go get one.

“I would suggest that you adopted him, but,” Liz’s voice broke the silence. “You might still be getting over Roscoe.”

Frowning, Mello turned his attention to her. “Why would I still be mourning her? She died before…” Mello paused. “This happened. That was months ago.”

“You’re still upset, I can tell,” Liz murmured. “Roscoe’s death upset you. You loved her.”

Mello crossed his arms. “Maybe I was a little upset…” Liz just smiled and stood up.

“Well now, we’ve wasted enough time. Come along now, time for what we came here for.” She began to trot down the hallway, Mello getting up to follow her. Oliver was hot on her heels, but Murdoch waddled behind. His legs were too stubby and short to get him anywhere quickly. Looking up at Mello, the puppy whined pitifully, and Mello sighed and picked him up.

“Fine, fine. But don’t think this means I’m taking you home or anything, ‘cause I’m not,” Mello told the puppy, who wagged his stubby tail in response.

When they got to the room, Mello noticed something new. There was a large new machine in the room—it had a computer like monitor, compete with keyboard and all. However, it had all kinds of weird wires and doo-dads and thingamajigs on it.

“What is that?” Mello asked skeptically, pointing at it. “Some kind of mega computer?” _Looks like something Matt would enjoy…_

“Sonogram, nutcase,” Liz replied matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” _Scratch that idea, then._

Liz just laughed. “It’s alright. A lot of people don’t know what it is the first time they see it, even though they might have heard of it already.” Liz blinked and tilted her head. “You do know what it is, right?”

Mello scoffed. “Of course I do. I’m not stupid.” Gently rubbing his stomach, Mello looked down at it. “I just didn’t know when you were planning on doing it.”

“Well obviously, now,” Liz told him, slipping on some gloves. “Unless you’d rather not…”

“No, it’s alright. You can do it now,” Mello told her, carefully eyeing the machine. “It’s not painful, is it?”

Liz shook her head. “No. Now lie on your back on that cot.” Liz pointed to the cot in the corner, and Mello approached it, keeping one eye on the machine and the other on his destination. In the meantime, Liz switched the power to the machine on, causing a loud noise and making Mello jump.

“What the hell?” he snapped, looking over at her as the noise subsided.

“Sorry,” Liz giggled. “I didn’t think it would startle you.”

Huffing, Mello reclined on the cot. “Well, you did. You startled me. Just be glad I don’t have my gun on hand right now; if I did, I probably would have shot you.”

“Fun, fun,” Liz grinned, tugging the machine closer to Mello and sitting in a spinning chair next to him. “Now hold still and unzip your vest.”

Mello looked confused for a moment, but then he understood what she was asking and did as she said, hesitating ever so slightly. Even though he was only 3 months along now, Mello was still sensitive about his stomach. Nonetheless, he unzipped the vest just so that his stomach was visible and nothing more. “Well now what are you going to do?”

“This,” Liz replied, taking out a medium-sized tub and squirting some gel onto her hand and proceeding to rub it on Mello’s exposed stomach.

“Gah! Cold,” Mello exclaimed as he shivered.

“Nothing I can do about that,” Liz said matter-of-factly, taking the transducer and pressing it to Mello’s stomach.

“Be easy,” Mello whimpered unusually softly. “I’m sensitive.”

Liz nodded, and looked over to the monitor as an image appeared on the screen. She saw as Mello’s sky blue eyes widened at the image.

“Is…is that?” he asked softly. Liz nodded in response.

“Yep,” Liz smiled. “That’s it. Do you want to know the gender?”

Mello blinked, still recovering from the shock. “You can tell me that?”

“If you want me to.”

Mello thought for a moment, then nodded. “Yeah.”

Liz studied the image for a second before looking back at Mello. “A boy.”

“A boy…” Mello repeated, looking down at his stomach again. In his ear he could hear what he figured was the heartbeat. Its heart was beating…it was alive. Well…his heart was beating. Mello felt his mouth twitch up at the corners, and a smile broke across his face. Even though he’d known about his pregnancy for a while now, it never ceased to amaze him.

After it was over, Mello pulled Murdoch into his lap and stroked the puppy, smiling down at him.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Liz yawned, leaning back in her chair. “Mmm, tired…you should probably get going,” Liz told Mello. “Today’s visit was long.”

“No thanks to you,” Mello scoffed. “Taking forever.”

“Hey, I wasn’t just gonna leave poor little Murdy out there all alone!” Liz exclaimed. “Anyways, what are you going to do?”

“About what?” Mello asked, running his hand down the puppy’s back.

“The baby,” Liz replied. “You’ll have to do something with it, won’t you?”

Mello shrugged. “I know I’m going to keep it but…”

“You don’t have a plan,” Liz finished for him.

“Yeah,” Mello sighed. Again, he went over his options. He could show up one day with a kid and tell Matt it was his, which would definitely have disastrous results. He could run off on his own…no. He already did that once, long ago, and he pledged to never do it again. For a final option, he could go to Matt now and tell him what he’d been hiding for the past three months, which could have mixed results; it was, however, most likely the best option. Looking over at Liz, he nodded.

“I’ll tell him.”


	5. Mayday, Mayday, We've been hit!

Chapter five: Mayday, Mayday, we’ve been hit!

Obviously, that promise fell flat, because four months later, Matt still knew nothing and Mello’s secret held…for now. However, because of Mello’s unstable emotions, their relationship had become strained. Had Matt known about Mello’s condition, it probably wouldn’t have come down to this argument; it was happening though.

Today’s argument began with Matt asking Mello why he wore his jacket inside all the time. Of course, we all know the real reason was so that Mello could hide his pregnancy—but Mello wasn’t going to tell Matt that. So instead, he answered with the ever popular “Because I want to,” and that puts us where we are now, right in the middle of a heated argument.

“Why don’t you ever tell me anything anymore?” Matt yelled at Mello, who was standing with his back turned to Matt.

“Because it doesn’t matter,” Mello yelled back, and then muttered, “You don’t care anyway.” It wasn’t meant to be heard, but Matt’s sensitive ears picked it up anyway.

“Don’t care?” he said softly. “Don’t _care_?” he repeated, more loudly this time. “Mello, if I didn’t care I wouldn’t be arguing with you! If I didn’t care I wouldn’t worry about you! If I didn’t care I wouldn’t have let you live with me, I wouldn’t have saved you when you blew yourself up, I wouldn’t have left Wammy’s to find you, and I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you in the first place!” by the time he was finished, Matt had his hand on Mello’s shoulder. He couldn’t see it, but a few tears were rolling down Mello’s face. After a moment, Matt turned at paced off towards the door.

“Matt, where are you going?” Mello called after him.

“Somewhere,” Matt replied lowly.

“Will you…come back?” Mello asked, voice strained.

There was a long pause before Matt finally answered. “Maybe.” With a slam of the door, Matt was gone, leaving Mello alone in the apartment they shared.

Now unable to stop the tears, Mello curled up on the couch, letting himself sob freely. Never before had he hurt so much inside, except maybe when he left Matt before. Now, the positions were switched; Matt had left Mello, leaving Mello heartbroken and alone. All because he didn’t tell…

What had seemed like a good idea at the time was now a mistake that could never be erased. Because of a little white lie, Mello might never see his lover again, one of the only people in the world he cares about.

However, Mello was about to face a new, even more terrifying problem. When his sobs finally quieted to soft sniffles, Mello could feel painful cramps racing through his body. Wrapping his arms around his stomach, Mello whimpered loudly. They were starting to get closer together, and therefore more frequent. As the pain progressed, Mello finally realized what was really going on.

“Shit,” he breathed, softly yet with alarm. Pain blurred his vision as he gripped the couch with one hand and his cellphone with the other, and  did the only logical thing he could think of at that moment;

He called Matt.

The phone rang a few times but Matt didn’t answer it. Scared and in even more pain, Mello dialed the number again. Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Matt answered.

“What?” the voice on the other line said in an annoyed tone.

“Matt,” Mello whimpered, voice filled with pain and fear. “Matt, it’s an emergency,” he finished, voice strained.

“Mello, what’s wrong?” Matt asked, voice now filled with worry.

“I…I think I’m,” Mello panted, pausing when it was almost too painful to speak. “I think I’m in labor.” He whimpered. “Please Matt, come home, I’m sorry,” he cried, tears of pain, sorrow, and fear flowing down his face. “I’m scared, I don’t know what to do!”

When Mello was finished, Matt replied, “I’m coming, don’t worry.” His voice was firm, yet worried as well.

“Please hurry,” Mello whined, gripping the couch harder with the pain. He was gripping so hard, he could feel his nails go through the material and into the couch.

“I will, just hold on okay?” Matt told him, and Mello let out a shaky breath.

“Okay.” With that, he hung up and curled up tighter, biting his lip to keep from crying out in pain. Mello stayed that way until Matt finally came, panting and wide-eyed behind his tinted goggles.

Wasting no time, Matt ran to Mello’s side, kneeling by the couch and hugging him. “Mel, oh my God…” he whispered. “Are you alright?”

“It hurts,” Mello whimpered. “It hurts a lot.” As Matt pulled back, Mello gripped his hand. “Matt, it’s way too early, I’m scared!”

Matt felt utterly helpless as he squeezed Mello’s hand reassuringly, not remembering the last time he’d seen Mello so freaked out. “How far along are you?” he asked gently, rubbing his shoulders.

“Seven months,” Mello whimpered, tears falling faster down his face.

Now Matt didn’t know much about pregnancy, but he knew one thing; seven months was way too early. “It’s alright,” Matt murmured encouragingly to Mello. “I’ll get you to a hospital, alright?”

“Wait,” Mello panted, attempting to sit up to make Matt’s job easier. “Take me to 208 Cherry Lane, the doctor I’ve been seeing works there.”

Thinking for a moment, Matt nodded. “I know where that is; tiger out front?”

Mello nodded. “Yeah.” He gripped Matt’s hand tightly as he felt another contraction pass through him.

“Alright. Can you walk?” Matt asked worriedly, standing up to leave.

As he could barely almost sit up, Mello shook his head. “N-no. Matt, you aren’t really going to—” Mello was cut off as Matt heaved him into his arms.

“Yes, I really am going to,” Matt grinned, letting Mello wrap his arms around his neck. Mello leaned his head on Matt’s shoulder as he walked out to the car, wincing and tightly grabbing Matt’s vest every time he felt a contraction. Mello noticed that he was shaking like a leaf from the pain, but there was nothing he could do about it. Matt felt equally helpless, however, since he knew there was nothing he could do to help the pain. All they could do now was go…

After what felt like forever, they finally arrived at Liz’s office. Matt carried Mello in, and Jay looked at them placidly.

“Room one,” he sighed as if this happened every day, and then looked back down at his paperwork as if they never existed.

They found Liz in room one, spinning around in her chair. Murdoch was on one side, Oliver was on the other, and today a visitor was there. A huge African lion (who Mello suspected was this Rocky he’d heard of) was standing behind her, and he grunted as Matt and Mello came into view.

“Hola amigos,” Liz greeted, looking over at them. “What’s the emergency?”

Matt motioned with his head down to Mello, who was whimpering softly. “He’s in labor.”

“Mhm,” Liz murmured, getting up and walking over. “Mello, has your water broken yet?”

Mello shook his head. “No,” he answered as Liz put her hand to his side to feel the intensity of the contractions.

“How long have you been contracting?” she asked, removing her hand.

“About thirty minutes,” Mello replied, voice wavering. He wanted to ask why all of these questions were necessary, but he forgot about it. Liz did what Liz did.

“Have they been this severe from the start?”

“Yes…why?”

Liz smiled. “Eureka. It’s pseudolabor, Mello.”

Now it was Matt’s turn to be confused. “Who what now?”

“Pseudolabor, false labor. It usually happens closer to the end of pregnancy, but can also be brought on by stress. It’s just your body preparing to have the baby, giving you false contractions in the process. If the stressful state continues, however, it’s possible you could actually go into labor. As long as you calm down, they should be gone in about fifteen minutes.”

Dazed but still in pain, Mello nodded. “Okay…”

“You can lie on the cot if you want to, Murdy needs a walk.” Liz told them, grabbing the dog’s lead and calling him out of the room. As she left, Matt set Mello down on the cot, and Mello leaned back gratefully. He still had an iron grip on Matt’s hand, so Matt settled in a chair next to him.

“Mel,” he asked softly. “Why didn’t you tell me you were pregnant?”

“I’m sorry Matt,” Mello whimpered, wincing slightly as pain blurred his vision. “I just…I didn’t want you to leave me.”

Matt’s eyes softened as he relaxed and he blinked. “Leave you? You thought I would leave you?”

“I didn’t think you wanted kids,” Mello sighed. Just as Liz had predicted, the contractions had begun to get less severe.

“Mel, I wouldn’t leave you because of that,” Matt told him. “If anything that would make me want to stay with you _more._ Besides, I think raising a kid would be…different. Fun yet challenging.” He gave a small smile. “If I had known I wouldn’t have gotten so upset.

“I shouldn’t have lied to you, though,” Mello replied, voice soft. “It’s my fault you got mad in the first place,” Mello paused for a second, before looking up at Matt. “Are you still mad at me?”

Matt shook his head. “No. Not anymore,” he told him gently. “Just…a little shaky.”

“Yeah,” Mello sighed, giving a small smile. “Me too.” The pain and contractions had stopped, letting Mello relax. “Now I’m tired.”

“Then sleep,” Matt told him, brushing a few strands of hair away from Mello’s eyes. “I’m not going anywhere, I promise.”

Mello gave a little nod, then a yawn, before resting his head against the pillows. In a few minutes, the exhausted blonde had fallen fast asleep, chest rising and falling slowly in sleep.

As they sat together, Liz and Jay looked on from the doorway.

“That’ll be us one day,” Liz grinned happily.

“I need a vacation,” Jay sighed, shaking his head. “After this, can we please go somewhere like…the Bahamas or something?”

Liz just chuckled softly. “Sure, sure. Whatever you want.”

The next morning, Matt and Mello did bring home a new family member, not the one they were expecting but nonetheless…they ended up bringing home the puppy Murdoch.


	6. Where do we go from here?

Chapter six: Where do we go from here?

Surprisingly for both Matt and Mello, life had gotten much, much easier after Mello’s secret had been released. They didn’t get into nearly as many arguments, and if they did it was usually about small things, like what to have for dinner or why Mello needed to get out of bed that morning. Of course Murdoch relieved a lot of tension with his puppyish antics and cute little demeanor; I mean, who could resist this guy? So, life basically went (somewhat) back to normal, one of the only differences being Matt constantly making sure that Mello was okay and taking responsibility for anything and everything Mello would normally be doing.

Now, however, was one of the rare times where nothing was really happening, and everyone was resting on the couch. Mello was leaning happily on Matt’s shoulder, and Murdoch was lying in Matt’s lap, stubby tail wagging as the redhead would pet him with his free hand. Matt had his other arm around Mello, keeping him close and letting his hand rest on Mello’s side, smiling from time to time when he felt a kick.

“He’s strong,” Matt remarked, tilting his head to rest on the back of the couch. “Like you Mel.”

Mello gave a tiny smile. “You think so?” after realizing how Matt really felt about his pregnancy, the fear Mello held not so long ago felt so…irrational.

“Yeah,” Matt sighed contentedly, gently rubbing Mello’s stomach. “I can’t wait until he’s born.”

“Same here,” Mello replied, resting his hand over Matt’s. “I can’t wait until this is over.” Seeing how two months had passed since Matt found out about Mello’s pregnancy, and Mello had been about 7 months at the time, simple math would be able to tell you that Mello was nearing the end of his pregnancy—in fact, he was actually three days overdue.

“Hopefully it’ll be any day now,” Matt reassured him, gripping his hand. “I’m sure it won’t be long.”

Mello sighed unhappily. “Yeah, I really hope so.”

And it would happen soon; later that night believe it or not. In the middle of the night, around 12 o’ clock, Mello awoke with a soft groan and sat upright. Suddenly, he gasped, eyes widening.

“Matt!” he whispered urgently, shaking the sleeping redhead. “Matt, wake up!”

“Mm, what?” Matt yawned, opening one eye. “Where’s the fire?”

“No fire,” Mello told him. “It’s time!”

“For what?” Matt asked, still out of his senses.

“The baby’s coming,” Mello hissed through clenched teeth. “My water broke!”

“Huh…oh!” Matt gasped, finally realizing what was going on.

“Took you long enough,” Mello muttered under his breath as Matt struggled to get his clothes on.

“Don’t worry,” Matt told him, tugging his shirt over his head. “I’ll call Liz and get the stuff and—”

“I was never worrying,” Mello remarked. “It was you who was worried.” Surprisingly, Mello was a lot more clam then the last time he thought the baby was coming—perhaps it was because he hadn’t started contracting yet and therefore was in no pain.

“Worrying, I’m not worrying,” Matt replied, giving a little laugh. “Have you seen my cellphone?”

“Kitchen table,” Mello sighed, leaning against the wall behind the bed.

“Thanks.” As soon as Matt found his phone, he dialed Liz’s number. It rang a few times before she finally answered.

“Who the hell is callin’ me?” she said angrily.

“Just me,” Matt sighed. “Mello’s in labor.”

“For real this time?” Liz asked, less angry and more “oh-boy-here-we-go” now.

“Yes, his water broke,” Matt explained.

“Fun. I’ll be waiting for you,” Liz told him, and then hung up.

The girl was true to her word. When Matt and Mello arrived not 10 minutes later, Liz was standing out front in full attention.

“Ello old chaps,” she greeted them merrily. “Follow me.” As they went into the building, Liz led them back into one of the back rooms, where all of the stuff they would need was set up. Mello lay on the hospital like bed and gave a small gasp, gripping the sheets.

“You okay Mel?” Matt asked gently, taking one of his hands.

“Contraction,” Mello groaned softly. “First one.”

“Already?” Matt asked.

“That’s a good thing,” Mello told him. “That means it won’t last as long…right?” Mello asked, looking over at Liz.

Liz shrugged. “Depends. It could last three hours, or three days.”

“Three days?” Mello groaned, leaning back against the bed. “I hope it doesn’t take that long.” Mello tensed and sucked in his breath as another contraction raced through him.

“Second one?” Matt asked, and Mello nodded.

“How far apart?” Liz finally asked, slipping on a pair of surgical gloves.

“About a minute,” Mello replied, tilting his head at Liz. “Why do you need to know?”

“Because it makes it easier for me to be able to tell when the right time for you to start pushing is,” Liz replied calmly. “You probably shouldn’t start until they get to be at least 15 seconds apart, or until I say so, alright?”

Mello nodded. “Alright.” The contractions progressed slowly over the next few hours. At first, they were simply like speed-bumps, annoying but not haltering in any way. They soon progressed to slightly painful, more painful, and very painful.

“Hey Matt,” Mello panted out after a very painful contraction passed. “You know how I told you how much pain I was in when those false contractions came?”

“Yeah,” Matt replied, wincing a little as Mello squeezed his hand, hard.

“These ones are about ten times worse now.” He groaned though clenched teeth.

“That must hurt,” Matt remarked, watching as Mello winced and squeezed his hand tighter as another contraction passed.

“Alright, I think you’re ready,” Liz proclaimed, getting up from the chair she’d been sitting in and settling herself at the end of the bed. “Every time you feel a contraction I want you to push as hard as you can, okay Mello?”

Mello nodded painfully and bit his lip, waiting for the next contraction. It finally came, and Mello bore down hard. He gripped Matt’s hand hard, almost to the point of breaking it before he released, panting.

This went on for about an hour until, finally, a breakthrough.

“You’re getting close Mello,” Liz told him. “Not much longer now.”

Mello nodded heavily and drew in a breath as he bore down on the next contraction, squeezing Matt’s hand tightly. The redhead’s hand was probably close to being broken, but Matt didn’t complain. Mello was probably in a lot more pain than he was.

“Just a few more times,” Liz reassured Mello. “It’s almost over.”

The pain was almost too much to bear, but Mello bore down on a contraction for what he hoped would be close to the last time, biting his lip to keep from screaming. Finally it passed, letting Mello lean back and relax for a moment.

“One more time,” Liz called up to him. “Alright Mello?”

Mello nodded painfully again, biting on his lip. Finally, he felt what he hoped would be the last contraction and he bore down hard, releasing his lip and letting out a scream that could probably wake the dead. Finally, he heard the thin wail of a newborn and closed his eyes in relief, leaning against the pillows on the bed.

“You did it, Mel,” Matt exclaimed, giving him a small kiss. “I’m so proud of you.”

Mello gave a small smile and looked around. “I…I want to hold him.”

“I figured,” Liz grinned, setting the tiny newborn in Mello’s arms.

“Mel,” Matt gasped, leaning down to look at his son. “He’s amazing…” the newborn had a soft patch of blonde hair like his mother, and wide dark blue eyes like his father.

“He’s gonna look like you Matt,” Mello murmured, letting the newborn take hold of his finger and make soft cooing noises.

“You think so?” Matt asked, waving his hand in front of the newborn’s face, watching as his eyes curiously followed him. “Hey Mel, what are we going to name him?”

Mello blinked. “We never did think of names did we?” he murmured, thinking deeply for a moment.

“How about Mitheel for a first name?” Matt suggested, running a hand gently over his son’s soft cheek.

“Yeah, sounds nice. And Mail for his middle name?” Mello suggested, smiling gently.

“Mel…you wouldn’t really?” Matt said in disbelief, smiling at him.

“Mitheel Mail’s got a ring to it,” Mello told him, giving a small yawn.

“You know what else has a ring to it?” Matt asked, getting on his knees and pulling out a small black box from his vest pocket. He opened it up, revealing a sparkling diamond ring and slipping it on Mello’s finger. “Your hand does.”

Mello gasped and looked at Matt, eyes wide. “Matt…”

“Mihael Keehl,” Matt asked solemnly. “Will you marry me?”


	7. EPILOGUE: What Happened Afterwards

EPILOGUE: What happened afterwards

|15 Years Later|

Mello sat on the couch, watching as Mitheel and his two younger sisters, Mellenda and Michelle played with old Murdoch in the living room. Matt was holding their youngest son, Maximum to his chest, rocking back in forth in a rocking recliner to get the little one to sleep. Originally, Mello hadn’t wanted to get pregnant again, but Matt had wanted the other three so badly, Mello decided to just give him what he wanted. Honestly, now that he thought about it, he wouldn’t have it any other way.

On Mello’s lap purred a small cheetah cub, and next to him slept the cub’s brother. They had been named Romulus and Remus after the Roman legends. It was Liz who originally had the idea to name them that way.

Speaking of Liz, she and Jay were actually, believe it or not, engaged and expecting a new family member any day now. Oliver was old, but nonetheless still alive.

Oh, and about Matt and Mello getting married? Well, it happened. They’d already spend 14 happy years together—and were looking forward to forever.

Life went on as normal.

 _The end!_


End file.
